• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.55-63
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• 2022

Oleanolic acid (OA), a natural pentacyclic triterpenoid, has been reported to exert protective effects against several neurological diseases through its anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory activities. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the therapeutic potential of OA against acute and chronic brain injuries after ischemic stroke using a mouse model of transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO, MCAO/reperfusion). OA administration immediately after reperfusion significantly attenuated acute brain injuries including brain infarction, functional neurological deficits, and neuronal apoptosis. Moreover, delayed administration of OA (at 3 h after reperfusion) attenuated brain infarction and improved functional neurological deficits during the acute phase. Such neuroprotective effects were associated with attenuation of microglial activation and lipid peroxidation in the injured brain after the tMCAO challenge. OA also attenuated NLRP3 inflammasome activation in activated microglia during the acute phase. In addition, daily administration of OA for 7 days starting from either immediately after reperfusion or 1 day after reperfusion significantly improved functional neurological deficits and attenuated brain tissue loss up to 21 days after the tMCAO challenge; these findings supported therapeutic effects of OA against ischemic stroke-induced chronic brain injury. Together, these findings showed that OA exerted neuroprotective effects against both acute and chronic brain injuries after tMCAO challenge, suggesting that OA is a potential therapeutic agent to treat ischemic stroke.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.22 no.7 s.172
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• pp.200-207
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• 2005

This study compares two different methods of measuring brain-BOLD activation. By comparing two different methods of measurement i.e., one method calculating the neural activation area (the number of activated voxels), while the other measured the neural activation intensity (the mean intensity of selected activated yokels), this study identified the more precise method of measuring brain activation which results from the completion of a visuospatial task. 16 right-handed male college students (mean age 23.2 years) participated in this study as subjects. Functional brain images were scanned on them using a 3T MRI single-shot EPI method. No correlation was found between the levels of cognitive performance and number of activated yokels in the activated brain areas. However, a significant correlation was found between the levels of cognitive performance and the mean intensity of selected activated yokels in the parietal, frontal, and other areas. In conclusion, the method of mean intensity was considered a better index of brain activity rather than the activated yokels measurement method.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.199-209
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• 2017

Purpose: Caffeine is the most widely consumed psychostimulant. It is often adopted as a tool to modulate brain activations in fMRI studies. However, its pharmaceutical effect on task-induced deactivation has not been fully examined in fMRI. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effect of caffeine on both activation and deactivation under sustained attention. Materials and Methods: Task fMRI was acquired from 26 caffeine naive healthy volunteers before and after taking caffeine pill (200 mg). Results: Statistical analysis showed an increase in cognition-load dependent task activation but a decrease in load dependent de-activation after caffeine ingestion. Increase of attention and memory task activation and its load-dependence suggest a beneficial effect of caffeine on the brain even though it has no overt behavior improvement. The reduction of deactivation by caffeine and its load-dependence indicate reduced facilitation from task-negative networks. Conclusion: Caffeine affects brain activity in a load-dependent manner accompanied by a disassociation between task-positive network and task-negative network.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2018

PURPOSE: This study investigated the neurophysiological and behavioral adaptation during one or both hands movement in chronic stroke patients. METHODS: The study included sixteen hemiplegic stroke patients. Neurophysiological data (brain activation and muscle activation) were examined by electroencephalography (EEG) and electromyography (EMG), and behavioral adaptation was examined by wrist extension angle during wrist extension with one hand or both hands. Outcome variables of one hand or both hands were; mu rhythm of the EEG, EMG amplitude of wrist extensor and flexor muscles, and wrist angle of Myomotion 3D motion analysis. RESULTS: Our results revealed that wrist extension angle was significant increased during both hands movement compared to one hand movement (p<.05). Furthermore, in affected sensorimotor area, there was significant increase in the brain activation during both hands movement compared to one hand movement (p<.05). However, there was no significant different between one hand and both hands movement in muscle activation (p>.05). CONCLUSION: According to the findings of this experiment, bilateral arm movement improved brain activity on affected sensorimotor area and wrist extension angle. Therefore, we suggest that bilateral arm movement would positive effect on stroke rehabilitation in terms of increase in brain activation on affected motor area and wrist extension during bilateral arm movement.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2004.11c
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• pp.450-452
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• 2004

Every movement, perception and thought we perform is associated with distinct neural activation patterns. Neurons in the brain communicate with each other by sending electrical impulses that produce currents. These currents give rise to electrical fields that can be measured outside the head. It shows some variation on the electroencephalographic signals. In recent devices, the EEG signals measured from head surface are a sum of all the momentary brain activation. With these EEG signals, it is difficult to distinguish the patterns correlated with a certain event from the signals. However, the system must discriminate some patterns with some events especially for any kind of device as a brain control interface system. In this experiment, the sensory-motor cortex of humans has been extensively studied. Activation related to several movements on both sides of the sensory-motor cortices in imaginary. The activation patterns during imagination of several movements resemble the activation patterns during preparation of movements. The result represents the system based on the optimal filters discriminated at least 60% of mental imageries.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.395-404
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• 2010

Purpose : The object of this study was to examine the effect of motor learning on brain activation depending on the method of motor learning. Methods : The brain activation was measured in 9 men by fMRI. The subjects were divided into the following groups depending on the method of motor learning: actually practice (AP, n=3) group, action observation (AO, n=3) group and motor imagery (MI, n=3) group. In order to examine the effect of motor learning depending on the method of motor learning, the brain activation data were measured during learning. For the investigation of brain activation, fMRI was conducted. Results : The results of brain activation measured before and during learning were as follows; (1) During learning, the AP group showed the activation in the following areas: primary motor area located in precentral gyrus, somatosensory area located in postcentral gyrus, supplemental motor area and prefrontal association area located in precentral gyrus, middle frontal gyrus and superior frontal gyrus, speech area located in superior temporal gyrus and middle temporal gyrus, Broca's area located in inferior parietal lobe and somatosensory association area of precuneus; (2) During learning, the AD groups showed the activation in the following areas: primary motor area located in precentral gyrus, prefrontal association area located in middle frontal gyrus and superior frontal gyrus, speech area and supplemental motor area located in superior temporal gyrus and middle temporal gyrus, Broca's area located in inferior parietal lobe, somatosensory area and primary motor area located in precentral gyrus of right cerebrum and left cerebrum, and somatosensory association area located in precuneus; and (3) During learning, the MI group showed activation in the following areas: speech area located in superior temporal gyrus, supplemental area, and somatosensory association area located in precuneus. Conclusion : Given the results above, in this study, the action observation was suggested as an alternative to motor learning through actual practice in serial reaction time task of motor learning. It showed the similar results to the actual practice in brain activation which were obtained using activation of mirror neuron. This result suggests that the brain activation occurred by the activation of mirror neuron, which was observed during action observation. The mirror neurons are located in primary motor area, somatosensory area, premotor area, supplemental motor area and somatosensory association area. In sum, when we plan a training program through physiotherapy to increase the effect during reeducation of movement, the action observation as well as best resting is necessary in increasing the effect of motor learning with the patients who cannot be engaged in actual practice.

• PNF and Movement
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.231-236
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare cerebral motor area activation between the diagonal and straight movements of the lower extremity. Methods: The subjects of this study consisted of two right-handed adults. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was conducted to measure brain activation following the diagonal and straight movements of the lower extremity. The primary motor area, premotor area, and supplementary motor area, which are closely related to exercise, were set as the regions of interest. Results: The brain activation by diagonal movement was an average of $1036{\pm}75$ voxel, and brain activation by straight exercise was an average of $773{\pm}55$ voxel. Conclusion: Based on these results, we conclude that the activation of the cerebral motor area is more effective for diagonal movements than for straight movements.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.1745-1748
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• 2005

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) can be used to monitor brain activation by measuring changes in the concentration of oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin (Hb) by their different spectra in the near-infrared range. Because NIRS is a noninvasive, highly flexible and portable device, it is very suitable to study brain activation when a human repeatedly performs a manipulative task, and possibly provides useful information to construct human adaptive mechatronics (HAM). There is some evidence that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) plays a major role in working memory and it is proposed that the use of working memory decreases as a human develops manipulative skills. In the present study, we investigated the activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) of the brain in Brodmann's areas 9 and 46 in drawing tasks to examine whether NIRS can measure the changes of DLPFC activation as a human develops manipulative skills. Subjects performed a mirror image drawing task and a square drawing task by ones' left hands. In the mirror image task the subject drew following a star shape based on a mirror image of it, but square drawing did not involve mirror image and was estimated to be simpler. The changes of the concentration of oxy-Hb was higher in the mirror image drawing than the square drawing in most subjects. The changes of oxy-Hb decreased as the subject repeated the drawing task in most subjects. In conclusion, The activation of DLPFC measured by NIRS can reflect the brain activity in the development of manipulative skills.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.751-758
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to investigate brain activation pattern and functional connectivity network during classification on the biological phenomena. Twenty six right-handed healthy science teachers volunteered to be in the present study. To investigate participants' brain activities during the tasks, 3.0T fMRI system with the block experimental-design was used to measure BOLD signals of their brain. According to the analyzed data, superior, middle and inferior frontal gyrus, superior and inferior parietal lobule, fusiform gyrus, lingual gyrus, and bilateral cerebellum were significantly activated during participants' carrying-out classification. The network model was consisting of six nodes (ROIs) and its fourteen connections. These results suggested the notion that the activation and connections of these regions mean that classification is consist of two sub-network systems (top-down and bottom-up related) and it functioning reciprocally. These results enable the examination of the scientific classification process from the cognitive neuroscience perspective, and may be used as basic materials for developing a teaching-learning program for scientific classification such as brain-based science education curriculum in the science classrooms.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.163-173
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• 2013

PURPOSE: This study determined the effect of balance control therapy in the brain activation. METHODS: Twenty-two college students who showed decrease of muscle strength in O-ring test were as participants in this study. And the subjects were randomly divided into experimental group (n=13) and control group (n=9). Measurement device is portable EEG (Nihonkhoden, Japan). Examinations used twenty electrodes attached to the head to capture electrical brain signals during 5 minutes with brain activated states such as the awaked state and the data were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: After treatment by balance control therapy, P3 (p<.025) and P4 areas (p<.025) showed a significantly lower ST index in the experimental group than the control group, The variation of ST index in P4 area (p<.025) was decreased in the experimental group but was increased in the control group. CONCLUSION: These results showed that the balance control therapy was helpful to change the brain activation such as the stress (ST) index at the sensory area in the college students.